Funny Friends

The theme of Funny Friends is unique - it's about the trials and tribulations of growing up. Each player takes on the role of a character and must guide them through life, starting out at puberty with a set of five goals in different categories (career, relationship, friend, spirit and life) that they must reach to win the game. To reach a goal a character must have certain characteristics and these characteristics change according to life experiences such as having relationships, having sex, becoming addicted to drugs or starting a business. These experiences are gained by bidding for them using time tokens (time is the currency of the game).

At it's heart this is a simple auction game, but it is a lot of fun.

+ Very thematic and makes real life sense; drinking too much causes loss of wisdom, lots of money results in loss of grief, lots of wisdom causes you to stop smoking.
+ The life cards and artwork in general are very humorous and fitting; the "Parents divorce" card gives you grief and money, the "Couch potato" card causes you to gain fatness and lose all wisdom, and the "Trip to Amsterdam" card gives you drugs and fatness, but requires that you have a friend to take with you.
+ Always some great stories to tell after playing
+ Top quality components, though some of the tokens could have been a little larger.

- May take too long for a light auction game.
- Some of the rules add a few unnecessary complications.
- The rule book isn't very clear on some points.

A very good game, but better played light-heartedly/socially rather than optimising every move - people who tend to think too much will make this game drag on forever. This game is about the stories and laughter, not the winning!